Receiver dryer devices for use in an automobile air conditioning apparatus are well known in the prior art. The receiver dryer is generally disposed between a condenser and a decompression device of the air conditioning apparatus. The receiver dryer includes a housing having a cylindrical body and a header comprising a fluid inlet port and a fluid outlet port. The header is typically welded on the top of the cylindrical body and is provided with integrally formed fluid ports. Therefore, sealing the receiver dryer to the refrigeration circuit should be accomplished easily. However, because the direction of each fluid port is fixedly determined, the piping of the refrigeration circuit must be carefully arranged to mate with each port. This makes fitting complicated and obtaining a good seal difficult. A large length of pipe is required to seal the receiver dryer to the refrigeration circuit and pressure losses often occur.
One solution to the above problem is to rotatably fasten the fluid inlet port and the fluid outlet port on the header to accommodate a wide range of refrigeration piping configurations. However, the rotatability of the fluid ports impairs their sealing.